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Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Problem With Palestinian Political Leadership

A legitimacy deficit, a lack of smart tactics and a focus on power
for power's sake are all barriers to Palestinian liberation

By Ben White

Palestinian women walk past a mural of militants in the West Bank town of Jenin. Photograph: Mohammed Ballas/AP

For
a few months now, discussion of Palestine/Israel has focused on the looming UN
vote on Palestinian statehood, but this is obscuring more fundamental problems
in the Palestinian political arena – of which the forthcoming UN vote is a
symptom.

In
three critical areas, there are significant flaws hampering Palestinian
political leadership.

The
first is a legitimacy deficit. Both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority
and Hamas have, with the most generous interpretation, a minority mandate from
the Palestinian people. The last elections of any sort took place in 2005-2006,
and overdue local elections have been indefinitely postponed. And even if
presidential or parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza were to take
place tomorrow, they would still exclude Palestinian refugees. The Palestine
Liberation Organisation (PLO) remains a potential vehicle for democratic
decision-making, but serious reform is still not on the horizon.

The
second critical problem is a lack of creativity and strategic thinking when it
comes to tactics. This has a number of root causes which are beyond the scope
of this article but the main point is a marked inability to adapt to
circumstances with regard to the kind of smart resistance most appropriate for
confronting Israeli colonisation. This is more than simply an issue of
"violent" versus "nonviolent" (a discussion often plagued
by patronising western double standards).

Fear
of losing control over the course of events can be one factor inhibiting an
openness to change – which brings us to the third problematic area: a focus on
power for its own sake rather than for the achievement of a specific goal.

This
criticism applies to both Fatah and Hamas, though the former has been guilty of
it for a longer period of time and with more devastating consequences. Over the
past five years or so, the conflict between these two factions has frequently
resembled a fight for who can occupy the Bantustan palace, rather than who can
serve most effectively the unfinished Palestinian revolution.

This
fight for fake authority has resulted in a dangerous phenomenon: the harassment
of youth activists (such as the 15 March movement) and dissidents in the West
Bank and Gaza. The growing expressions of dissatisfaction, particularly from
young Palestinians, have contributed to a hardening grip on power by two
regimes that fear they stand to lose from an overhauled democratic system.

At
the root of this is the Oslo Accords, 18 years old and still setting the
parameters for official Palestinian efforts to realise "autonomy" in
terms set by the occupier. "Liberation" was replaced by
"authority" before any liberation had been achieved or any genuine
authority was possible. The Palestinian Authority and the Oslo structure
shifted the discourse over Palestine – both domestically and internationally –
from a discourse of rights (right of return, liberation, decolonisation and
self-determination) to one of statehood and independence.

As
a consequence, basic rights became fodder for negotiations with those
responsible for the Palestinians' dispossession and colonisation, and popular
resistance was hindered. For example, in the context of security co-operation
with the Israeli military – and a growing number of protests in 2011 – the
Ramallah leadership has made clear that it intends to police Palestinian
demonstrations to keep them safely in urban West Bank enclaves.

Encouragingly,
many Palestinian civil society groups are demonstrating vision, creativity and
integrity: from the BDS movement and Gaza Youth Break Out, to Stop the Wall and
other grassroots popular initiatives.

Yet
there is no significant parallel in the political sphere – a failing that is a
real impediment to Palestinians realising their rights. Even putting aside the
problems with the unilateral UN initiative, it is clear that much bigger
challenges remain.

-This commentary was published in The Guardian on 01/09/2011
-Ben White is a freelance journalist and writer specialising in
Palestine/Israel. He also writes on the broader Middle East, Islam and
Christianity, and the "war on terror". He lives in the UK and his
book, Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide is published by Pluto Press

About Me

I graduated from the French University in Beirut (St Joseph) specialising in Political and Economic Sciences. I started my working life in 1973 as a reporter and journalist for the pan-Arab magazine “Al-Hawadess” in Lebanon later becoming its Washington, D.C. correspondent. I subsequently moved to London in 1979 joining “Al-Majallah” magazine as its Deputy Managing Editor. In 1984 joined “Assayad” magazine in London initially as its Managing Editor and later as Editor-in-Chief. Following this, in 1990 I joined “Al-Wasat” magazine (part of the Dar-Al-Hayat Group) in London as a Managing Editor. In 2011 I became the Editor-In-Chief of Miraat el-Khaleej (Gulf Mirror). In July 2012 I became the Chairman of The Board of Asswak Al-Arab Publishing Ltd in UK and the Editor In Chief of its first Publication "Asswak Al-Arab" Magazine (Arab Markets Magazine) (www.asswak-alarab.com).

I have already authored five books. The first “The Tears of the Horizon” is a love story. The second “The Winter of Discontent in The Gulf” (1991) focuses on the first Gulf war sparked by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. His third book is entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: From Balfour Promise to Bush Declaration: The Complications and the Road to a Lasting Peace” (March 2008). The fourth book is titled “How Iran Plans to Fight America and Dominate the Middle East” (October 2008) And the fifth and the most recent is titled "JIHAD'S NEW HEARTLANDS: Why The West Has Failed To Contain Islamic Fundamentalism" (May 2011).

Furthermore, I wrote the memoirs of national security advisor to US President Ronald Reagan, Mr Robert McFarlane, serializing them in “Al-Wasat” magazine over 14 episodes in 1992.

Over the years, I have interviewed and met several world leaders such as American President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Margaret Thacher, Late King Hassan II of Morocco, Late King Hussein of Jordan,Tunisian President Zein El-Abedine Bin Ali, Lybian Leader Moammar Al-Quadhafi,President Amine Gemayel of Lebanon,late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Late Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, Haitian President Jean Claude Duvalier, Late United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan,Algerian President Shazli Bin Jdid, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Siyagha and more...